CVE-2023-53445: net: qrtr: Fix a refcount bug in qrtr_recvmsg()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-09-18 · updated 2026-08-04

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: qrtr: Fix a refcount bug in qrtr_recvmsg() Syzbot reported a bug as following: refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. ... RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x17c/0x1f0 lib/refcount.c:25 ... Call Trace: <TASK> __refcount_add include/linux/refcount.h:199 [inline] __refcount_inc include/linux/refcount.h:250 [inline] refcount_inc include/linux/refcount.h:267 [inline] kref_get include/linux/kref.h:45 [inline] qrtr_node_acquire net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:202 [inline] qrtr_node_lookup net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:398 [inline] qrtr_send_resume_tx net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:1003 [inline] qrtr_recvmsg+0x85f/0x990 net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:1070 sock_recvmsg_nosec net/socket.c:1017 [inline] sock_recvmsg+0xe2/0x160 net/socket.c:1038 qrtr_ns_worker+0x170/0x1700 net/qrtr/ns.c:688 process_one_work+0x991/0x15c0 kernel/workqueue.c:2390 worker_thread+0x669/0x1090 kernel/workqueue.c:2537 It occurs in the concurrent scenario of qrtr_recvmsg() and qrtr_endpoint_unregister() as following: cpu0 cpu1 qrtr_recvmsg qrtr_endpoint_unregister qrtr_send_resume_tx qrtr_node_release qrtr_node_lookup mutex_lock(&qrtr_node_lock) spin_lock_irqsave(&qrtr_nodes_lock, ) refcount_dec_and_test(&node->ref) [node->ref == 0] radix_tree_lookup [node != NULL] __qrtr_node_release qrtr_node_acquire spin_lock_irqsave(&qrtr_nodes_lock, ) kref_get(&node->ref) [WARNING] ... mutex_unlock(&qrtr_node_lock) Use qrtr_node_lock to protect qrtr_node_lookup() implementation, this is actually improving the protection of node reference.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.6 before 5.10.178; from 5.11 before 5.15.107; from 5.16 before 6.1.24; from 6.2 before 6.2.11; 6.3-rc1, 6.3-rc2, 6.3-rc3, 6.3-rc4, 6.3-rc5 — fixed in 5.10.178, 5.15.107, 6.1.24, 6.2.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.178, 5.15.107, 6.1.24, 6.2.11. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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